refugee flows and so forth, it's smart for us to make a very modest investment in foreign aid. it's a force multiplier and it's something that -- >> president obama continuing with his twitter town hall. hi, everyone, i'm e.d. hill in for brooke baldwin today. it's a very busy wednesday. we get straight to some of the stories unfolding right now. accused boston crime boss whitey bulger formally arraigned minutes ago. accused of 19 murders. his plea, not guilty. and a shocking new warning today from homeland security. would-be terrorists surgically implanting bombs into their bodies to smuggle them on to planes. and the president holding a first ever twitter town hall. but we begin with this. celebrities, murder and terror victims, many of their phones hijacked. it is going to show you that some journalists will do anything to get a scoop on a

story. british hackers from the news of the world newspaper allegedly hacked into cell phone voice mails, including that of murdered british teen, milly doweler. police say the hackers deleted some of doweler's messages. if so, they may have interfered with a murder investigation. news of the world is part of the rupert murdoch media empire. several employees have already been interviewed by police. the "new york post" calls the allegations deplorable and unacceptable. rebecca brooks, the editor of "news of the world" at the time says she is, quote, sickened that these events are alleged to have happened. also, actor hugh grant says he's the latest celebrity to be hacked by the tabloid. he spoke to richard quest today and richard joins us. he'll be joining us in just a little bit. and interest what hugh grant has to say. now, after a decade and a half on the run, accused boston

gang boss james "whitey" bulger is back in court today, being arraigned for his alleged role in 19 murders. he pleased not guilty to all of the charges against him. bulger was the head of a south boston irish gang and was the inspiration for the character portrayed by jack nicholson in the movie "the departed." >> when i was your age, they would say we could become cops or criminals. what i'm saying is this, when you're facing a loaded gun, what's the difference? >> allegedly bulger was also an fbi informant. and we recently spoke to one of bulg bulger's former associates who's written a book and who bluntly describes his feelings about bulger's alleged role with the fbi. >> rats in my mob world is a no-no. and especially in southie.

southie, you grew up to accept your responsibility, even if the guy next to you can't. you do something wrong, you pay the price for it, and that's just the way it is. >> more on that story in just a moment. but now we go to richard quest, who interviewed hugh grant about this new story. i've got to tell you, here in the states, we aren't paying as much attention to it, but it has big news over in the uk. hugh grant among a lot of people who say their phones were hacked by journalists. richard, you talked to him, what did he say? >> reporter: it's interesting, you say. the scandal is large, it's growing. the british government today said that there would be a public inquiry when the police are finished investigating. rupert murdoch, who owns the newspaper, by the way, it's this newspaper we're talking about, it's call "the news of the world," the normal rumor and gossip all dressed up with scantily clad ladies. when they started wholesale

hacking of voice mail, it went into a different league. particularly, it was celebrities, it was stars, and now it's being dead murdered girl's voice mails and the patient parents of bomb victims and the like. when i talked to hugh earlier today, he said it's time to stop, it's time to say these newspapers, enough is enough. >> well, it began with just personal grievance, because i was a victim of phone hacking. and then i had this extraordinary piece of luck, where i ran into an ex features editor from "the news of the world" itself, in this unlikely story where my car broke down -- it's a long story. anyway, he started boasting about hacking me, hacking everyone, all the dirty tricks of "the news of the world," their sinister relationship with the metropolitan police, their relationship with the prime minister, and i thought it was all both fascinating and utterly

repulsi repulsive. so subsequently, i went back to see him. he now runs a pub in dover and i dropped in for a pint and a chat and bugged him, i bugged him back. i was wearing a wire, and got him talking all this stuff again, and published it all in a british paper, "the new statesman." that was the beginning of my sort of obsession with this, and my outrage. because, you know, it's one thing for there to be a very bad newspaper in the country but when you start to realize it's not one, but it's all our tabloids who have been shockingly out of control for a long time, and when you realize how much collusion there's been from the police and how much collusion there's been from our lawmakers, from our government, who need these tabloids, especially the murdoch press, to get elected, you start to think, i'm not proud of my country anymore. this is not the democracy i thought i was proud of. >> and you see, e.d., what

happens here is really the size and the scale and the depths and the depravity. >> and it's so big, as hugh was allude eing to. you've gt the police that are allegedly involved in this, you've got politicians. everybody seemed to be sort of feeding into it. and it just kept growing bigger and really to a tawdry, out of control, you know, hacking murder and terror victims. >> sure. because it's been going on for so long. the actual hacking was all in the 2002/2003/2004. but when he first knew about it when prince william's phone was hacked in 2005. now, from '5 to '7, it rumbles on, this, that, and the other and we're told it's all over. but in the last couple of years, this thing has come up again. siena miller has received 100,000 pounds, $160,000 max

clifford received over $1 million. it looks like people like hugh grant will receive payments. it so keeps -- what happens is, the newspaper keeps saying, enough, we've got to the bottom of it, we now know what happened, and then, whoosh! like a fountain, it erupts all over again with more allegations. but this time, we're in a different league. this is like something -- i mean, when the prime minister says he's disgusted, it's deplorable, then you know that we're in deep trouble indeed. >> all right. we'll continue following this. richard quest. always good to talk to you, thanks. turning now to the white house, where president obama had a first this afternoon. a tweet-up. if you're like me, a tweet-up, what is that? apparently that's what they call it in twitter land. the president is hosting a twitter town hall. everyone can meet up there, twitter a question. they keep it to the 140-character max, but no limit on the size of the presidential response, and the president

answered with a microphone. let's bring in our white house correspondent, dan lothian. the president certainly not known for short answers, tweets or otherwise, what were most of the questions about today? >> reporter: well, look, most of the questions were about jobs, about the economy. twitter saying that 27% of the questions that came in were about jobs, 6% were about housing. but the president also getting questions about the big issue right now, which is the raising of the debt ceiling. and one of the questions specifically was asking the president whether or not he was prepared to issue an executive order to essentially invoke section iv of the 14th amendment, with essentially some interpret that the president has the power and the authority to go ahead and continue spending money, even if congress does not raise the debt ceiling. the president sidestepping that somewhat, but sayinging that he doesn't think that the constitution should ever come into play here. that a deal has to get done and he believes that a deal will get

done. the president, what we also heard from him, an admission that he has not been perfect in the 2 1/2 years or so. take a listen. >> i think that probably two things that i would do differently, one would have been to explain to the american people that it was going to take a while for us to get out of this. even i did not realize the magnitude, because most economists didn't realize the magnitude of the recession until fairly far into t, maybe two or three months into my presidency, when we started realizing we had lost 3 or 4 million jobs before i was even sworn in. so i think people may not have been prepared for how long this was going to take and why we were going to have to make very difficult decisions and choices. and i take responsibility for that, because setting people's expectations is part of how you end up being able to respond

well. >> reporter: the sec thing was, the president said was, the decline of the housing market, it was much steeper than anyone anticipated. that it still has not bottomed out yet and that his administration has had to tweak housing programs in order to respond to the housing crisis. so both the housing and this economy, the situation being much better than the president anticipated. he wishes that he could have better spelled this out to the american people, e.d.. >> that first answer was interesting. a lot of people after he was elected saying he was the great communicator after reagan, saying he did such a great job connecting to people. and he's saying he didn't do a good enough job in that way. and house speaker john boehner got in on it by tweeting a question to the president too. >> reporter: that's right. even leading up to this, house

speaker john boehner had been encouraging republicans to join this twitter feed to ask or answer their own questions of the president. so you had the republican national committee asking about where are the jobs. john boehner was able to get a question in, and it was kind of a funny moment, he was essentially asking the question about where are the jobs. take a listen. >> our next question comes from someone you may know. this is speaker boehner. >> oh, there you go. >> "after embarking on a record spending binge that left us deeper in debt, where are the jobs?" and i want to note that these characters are his fault. not his fault, not his fault, not his fault. >> first of all, john needs to work on his typing skills. well, look, obviously, john's the speaker of the house, he's a republican so this is a slightly skewed question.

>> doesn't seem like he was expecting it. >> reporter: that's right. listen, earlier i had known that, you know, that the speaker was tweeting these various questions and encouraging republicans to do that. i didn't expect that this question would get through there, but it did. the president ultimately admitted that jobs have not come quickly enough. he did give the speaker that point and said that his administration is obviously doing everything it can to create those jobs. but this was a certainly a good moment during this tweet town hall. also, there was another moment at the very top where you saw the president actually tweet live tweet, i guess the first president to do something like this, where we sent himself a question. that was another historic moment, if you will, of president obama. >> all right. dan lothian, thanks so much. nearly ten years in the making, at a cost of billions of dollars. and just a year from now, the 9/11 museum near the former world trade center towers will

open up. but today, a lot of people are furious. the new york city council is deciding whether to charge admission. one of the brave firefighters who ran into the buildings and ended up near death himself will join us to talk about it. plus, tlnt public schools scoring high marks, basking in braise. turns out it was all a facade. cheating. not by the students, but by teachers and principals. you ar♪ ♪ my only sunshine ♪ you makes me happy ♪ when skies are grey ♪ you'll never know, dear ♪ how much i love you ♪ please don't take my sunshine away ♪ [ male announcer ] as long as there are babies, they'll be chevy's to bring them home. ♪

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in 67 days, we mark ten years since the 9/11 terror attacks. and on that day, the september 11th memorial will be dedicated at the site of the former world trade center complex. and a year after that, the museum will open.

this may outrage you, the new york city council is deciding whether to charge admission to the museum. maybe as much as $25 per person, regardless of what it costs, the idea of charging admission at all seems pretty horrible to a lot of folks with, and that includes jim riches, a former deputy chief of the new york city fire department. a firefighter who ran into the buildings to rescue people. one of the bodies that jim pulled out was that of his own son. and jim almost lost his own life. he was in a coma for 16 days and joins us now from new york. truly, you are one of the many heroes out there that day. and you are really upset about this. frankly, i don't blame you. but what have you heard? why are they considering $25 for admission? >> i know. this was supposed to be a place of remembrance and reverence and now we have it being a revenue-generating tourist attraction. it's a change. it's a $65 million annual budget, they have salaries around $400,000.

this was supposed to be for all of america. the national 9/11 memorial museum, not just for the rich and the privileged. and they've made this 95% museum and only 5% memorial. i think it's a disgrace what they're doing and america should be outraged. gettysburg doesn't charge to get and neither does pearl harbor and i think they shouldn't charge down at pearl harbor. >> you bring up a really good point. if they're complaining they don't have enough money to fund this thing throughout the year, first, why did they decide to make it so big, but sec, those salaries! i was stunned when i looked at those. and there's a number of them, about ten of them, i believe, those salaries put them into the top 1% of earners in america. i mean, that's how rich these salaries are. were you surprised by what they're planning on paying people? >> yeah, they say they're doing a great job and they deserve it, but it's ridiculous. you have 14 million people unemployed, more underemployed and they're claiming their salaries are justified. it's not justified. they're making money off people

that died that day, the most tragic day in american history, and they haven't listened to the families or anybody else with this museum pip mean, we don't even have the ranks of the firefighters on the memorial and their ages. it's not on there like pearl harbor. they refused to do it, they don't listen to us, and we feel it's wrong to charge that money to get in and pay these people's salaries,. >> i don't like the idea of charging admission to go to a 9/11 memorial, at all, or the museum. and that other issue you were talking about, i was there for 9/11, i was there for the first world trade center bombing back in '93, when the idea was brought up, it was going to be a memorial. and then it started morphing as politicians and all sorts of people in new york city got involved into this, it started morphing into this bigger and bigger and bigger thing. now we've reached this, museum and memorial, and $60 million annual budget. you say you really haven't had a

say in this. do the families feel pretty left out? >> we are left out. i'll tell you, as soon as you walk in, there's a gift shop. they're selling books, t-shirts, and cups -- >> wait a minute, they're going to be selling t-shirts? hold on, jim. >> inside the museum, as soon as you walk in, there's a gift shop, as soon as you walk in. they're also going to put our human remains seven stories below grade behind the wall. and they were told us at the beginning the remains would be separate or extinct from any museum or visitor's center. we're trying to get them to notify all the families as they were told it was ethical and professionally correct to notify the family where the remains were going to be placed. they're putting them below in a basement behind a wall. >> all right, jim, i can tell that you're upset and i can certainly understand that. we'll continue watching to see what the new york city council decides to do.

a lot of people go down to that area to where the world trade center was. you certainly gave a lot that day and i'm sure it continues to this day. jim riches, thank you very much. >> we shouldn't have to pay to go into a cemetery. thank you. it is pretty hard for a lot of people to imagine, but soon casey anthony will walk free. but then what? she's tossed her family under the bus in the testimony. she's got limited education, she's got no money. so how will she make it? some say she will sell her story. coming up next, how much cash casey could rake in.

we've got some breaking news right now. apparently an earthquake over 5

on the richter scale in tonga, about a thousand miles from australia. let's go to chad myers right now. what have you found out? >> it's a big quake, a 7.8, a significant shake here, but it is about 30 miles deep into the ocean. that means 30 miles of padding. when we had the big tsunami in japan, that was just a couple of miles deep, so the entire bottom of the earth shook, so the water moved a lot. here's australia right here and there's a big fault line right through here. and that point, right there on that fault line north of new zealand right there is where the shake happened. i'll get rid of this and get you into the fault lines itself, and where australia is, a big country right through here. along the fault line here, here's new zealand, wellington here, the northern island here. this is a subduction zone, two pieces of land, one going under another. the two plates, you know the plates we call them, one plate going under another. all of a sudden one shook, and really almost the exact type of shake and quake that they had in

japan with the big tsunami there. but being deeper than the one here, we don't think there'll be as big of a wave. there are tsunami warnings for parts of the pacific, nothing for america or even into hawaii or alaska, but we'll watch to see if a wave is generated or not. >> chad, quick question, how long before you have an idea of that? how do they find out wether or not you've got that wave coming? >> there's an amazing product out there, they're all over the pacific ocean, they're called dart buoys. on the bottom of the ocean is a scale, literally. and it measures the the weight of the water above it. if that water goes up by 1 or 2 in inches, the scale at the bottom says, that's getting heavier, there must be more water above me. that little wave that went over the scale will sound the alarm and sound the alert and that's how they'll know if a wave's coming or not.

it's an amazing thing. let just google that and you can find out more about that. >> you keep an eye on that and we'll continue with the rest of the news today. after three long years searching to the answer to a simple question, what happened to caylee anthony, we got that stunning verdict. >> as to the charge of first-degree murder, verdict as to count one, we the jury find the defendant not guilty, so say we all. >> and tomorrow, caylee anthony's mother, casey, will likely walk out of jail a free woman. how did this happen, listen to an alternate juror. >> what came out was that this is a very dysfunctional family. and they did not handle things well at all. yes, we all believe, and i'm pretty sure i can say this for all 17 of us, there was some

type of horrific accident. the family knows a lot more than what came out at the trial, but they didn't prove that there was a murder. >> well, one day after that verdict, a lawyer on the losing side speaks out. this is prosecutor jeff ashton, and what he said on the "today" show this morning. >> i cannot believe that's what happened. but, again, beyond a reasonable doubt is a high standard. and, you know, the jurors may have thought, as i do, but beyond a reasonable doubt is a high standard. and i respect the fact that they, you know, apply the law to the case as they saw it. >> well, the question so many people are asking today is, could casey anthony now get rich from booking movie deals? we do know she has been offered to star in a porn movie, but are more mainstream, lucrative deals in the work? we bring in arvet britto.

now, first off, casey anthony's trial drew big audiences, but when you talk to people, she's got to be one of the most hated people in america. so whatever she sells, will people buy it? >> this trial has significantly shifted the winds of casey anthony's future. and really, right now, she has to use a platform in order to shift the winds of perception. i mean, if she's released in a day or two, she can't go shopping as a normal, regular citizen, not being perceived the way that she is. so for her, we live in, sadly, a society that exploits tragedies. so the best way that she can rebound from this, if she's ever going to have any type of normalcy in her life, is to share her story. she apparently has a high level of dysfunction in her family, in her background. and because she didn't testify, we never heard a first-person account of her perspective of what took place. so i believe that that

perspective and that view, that insider's perspective that she can share will have a high price tag. >> you know, when you look at a lot of the big books that come out, it's because people are willing to say something that folks didn't know before. well, the defense came out and they explained what they claim -- what she claims happened. is there a possibility that she comes out and really drops a bombshell? we know she cannot be tried again on a murder charge. so could she come out with something unbelievable? >> i believe so. i believe that she didn't testify, and so whatever she says is going to be new information. it's going to be information that the public hasn't heard from her personally. so i believe that the stakes are going to be very high. they'll be very high for books. they'll be very high for that first sit-down interview. they'll be very high for film deals or whatever will come in the future. but more importantly, she has to shift the public's opinion. she was convicted in the most dangerous court in the world, and that's the court of public

opinion. >> she seems, as you said, pretty dysfunctional. i'm not sure she's got it all together enough to be wondering or concerned with what people think about her. i get the sense that at this point, based on, you know, how she's acted in the past, she's probably just in it for the money, what kind of cash. so based on your experience, when you see people like this, take like amy fisher, the long island lolita, what kind of money do they get? are we talking $100,000, $500,000, $1 million? and who pays that? what kind of organizations are willing to pay to people like that? >> well, in our society today, every media organization who's interested in her story, the stakes will be high based on the offers that come in, and she'll filter those offers. her, her legal team will filter the offers. i can only imagine based on cases similar to this, she could stand to earn millions, sadly, from exploiting this case. because that's the landscape of the society that we live in. so i -- sadly, she will stand to

make millions from this tragedy. >> and i know that sometimes, you know, organizations will get around it by not paying that person, but then by paying a consulting fee. there's that little bit of wiggle room there to claim that it's not quite as tawdry as it really is. >> or pay a family. >> right. the internet is buzzing, because everyone assume there's going to be a made-for-tv movie or a film or something like that, who would play -- these are the most talked about folks, "twilight" star, kristen stewart. alyssa milano. also lindsay lohan's name and face is out there saying she's got experience in a courtroom. and a few names getting a lot of support in the chat rooms, juneau star, ellen page, natalie portman, and pop star, not an actress, even, katy perry. if any of those stars were your clients, would you want them playing casey anthony in a

movie? >> i mean, in hollywood, it's all about the role and it's all about a dollar figure. an actress's job is to really transcend the moment and become that person. and it's got all the ingredients for a very juicy story. so i would image that if it happens, actresses will be clamoring to play casey anthony. >> wait and see. i'm sure we all will. marvet, britto, thank you very much. and today, we're re-inventing aspirin for pain relief. with new extra-strength bayer advanced aspirin. it has microparticles so it enters the bloodstream faster and rushes relief right to the site of your tough pain. ♪ in fact, it's clinically proven to relieve pain twice as fast. new bayer advanced aspirin. extra strength pain relief, twice as fast. new bayer advanced aspirin.

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welcome back. i'm meteorologist chad myers. i want to bring you up to date here on the earthquake. the number has gone down, 7.7, but the depth has gone

significantly closer to the surface of the water. i touched on this a little bit ago. when it's 30 miles deep, there's 30 miles of padding, of rock, that doesn't let the earthquake move, the water very much. but now we may be only a couple of miles deep. we're talking a long way from the u.s. this is tonga, over here would be australia, but along the plates, the australian plate and pacific plate, there was a 7.7 right there, a few minutes ago. a tsunami warning has been issued for the immediate area, and they're even saying there may be some small fluctuations to hawaii, but no watches, no warnings, no advisories at all for hawaii or for any parts of the u.s. pacific. e.d.? >> chad, thank you. >> you're welcome. now, watch this. >> we have cheated students. this angers us all. >> sure does. atlanta public schools under fire today. dozens and dozens of teachers and principals accused of

cheating for their students. and the investigation is causing an implosion, possibly even criminal charges. that story is coming up next.

a cheating scandal is rocking atlanta's schools. it's not dishonest by the students, but cheating by teachers and even principals. and it's not new. investigators say that it goes back a decade. ed lavendera has more. >> reporter: two years ago, the head of atlanta public school's beverly hall was named the country's top superintendent. back then she was credited for turning the atlanta system into a model of urban school reform and accomplishing significant gains in student achievement. but georgia's governor says the

state's just completed investigation into the atlanta school district's standardized testing process found widespread fraud dating back almost ten years. >> testing and results and targets being reached became more important than actual learning on the part of children. and when reaching targets became the goal, it was a goal that was pursued with no excuses. >> reporter: according to the report, cheating was found in 44 of 56 schools investigated, involving almost 180 principals and teachers. some of those educators could face criminal charges. superintendent hall stepped down from her job in june, but in a farewell video message, she suggested the culprits acted alone. >> a segment of our staff chose to violate the trust that was placed in them. and plet me be clear, there is simply no excuse for unethical behavior and no room in this district for unethical conduct.

>> reporter: according to the investigative report, some teachers told investigators they felt pressured to cheat on the standardized tests, and school officials missed significant and clear warning signs of scoring. atlanta's interim superintendent says any educator who cheated should never teach in the city schools again. >> we have cheated students. this angers us all, it is hard for us to quantify and often express that anger. >> reporter: across the city of atlanta, parents of schoolchildren are dismayed by the investigation's findings. >> they clearly did not do their job and they abused their power. >> it's a sad comment about what happens when adults put their own individual interests ahead of the children they serve. >> ed joins me now. so i understand that some of these folks could end in jail, right? >> right. this case, in report is essentially being handed over to three district attorney's offices here in the atlanta area, and they're going to go through there and they've got a

lot of people that they've talked to. there's a lot of teachers, there's a number of people who just confessed, flat-out, according to this report, and there are a number of people who didn't cooperate, there are a lot of high-ranking officials. there's a very real chance of criminal charges. and that will probably take some time, but it's definitely moving that way. all of this has been handed over the investigators and prosecutors. >> i remember not that long ago, a huge scandal to the chicago school system. now atlanta. usually they are around these standardized tests. are the teachers just not teaching kids? or are they looking for that improvement, like the kids are doing okay, but they want them to do really well, so they get -- >> isn't that kind of the knock you hear across the country. that so many parents have complaints that teachers are simply teaching their kids on how to take a test, that that's essentially what a lot of these classrooms have come to. that's a criticism that's out there. obviously, a story like this kind of reinforces that

criticism. so, yeah, there is that concern, when you start hooking in teacher performance, reviews, salaries in some cases, into how these students performed, a lot of people say, look, you open up the door to this type of behavior. >> but without it, how do you figure out how they're doing. >> the real sad case, they have children who have moved from elementary school into middle school, they've been told for years that their test scores are great, everything's fine, and they're finding out now these kids don't even know how to read. but there were never any warning signs. their scores had been changed, everybody believed they were doing fine, and they're way behind. a disservice has been done to many of these children. >> it's surprising no one blew the whistle earlier. >> the fascinating thing, whistle-blowers were punished and the people who cheated were rewarded. >> ed lavendera, thank you very much. coming up -- >> i actually didn't grow up to want to be a journalist in the beginning, i wanted to be an

astronaut. so 20 years ago, i came right here, to space camp in huntsville, alabama. >> that's right, your beloved brooke is not here today because she is there. coming up next, brooke comes as earthly close as she can to living out her dream of becoming an astronaut. we're back in just a moment. ♪ ♪ ♪ look at that car, well, it goes fast ♪ ♪ givin' my dad a heart attack ♪ [ friend ] that is so awesome. ♪ i love my car [ engine revving ] [ male announcer ] that first chevy, yea, it gets under your skin. ♪

friday may mark the end of the space shuttle era, but it is not the end of humans in space. and it is certainly not the end for those who dream of one day becoming an astronaut. in fact, there is one place on earth that gets you pretty close to the real thing. cnn's brooke baldwin goes in depth and is there. >> reporter: if you can't go to space, in huntsville, alabama, nasa brings space to you. you think space is pretty cool? >> mm-hmm. >> reporter: every year, 30,000 kids like 12-year-old sasha come o to space camp or space academy to learn what it takes to become

an astronaut. what do you want to do when you go to space? >> go to mars? >> reporter: most of these campers come for a week. but for this astronaut in training, i got a day. >> to get disoriented -- >> reporter: first test, the multiaxis training or m.a.t., which simulates an astronaut tumbling in space. >> your center of gravity is your stomach and that's not going to move, so you're not going to get sick, no matter how you spin. >> reporter: famous last words. five different ways to buckle me in. >> it's going to swing. >> reporter: okay, m.a.t., crank it up. i'm tumbling in space! ah! >> you doing all right? >> reporter: yeah! whoo! next challenge, walking on the moon. >> this one was developed for the apollo program when we had our lunar mission, so you're going to be walking on a lunar surface. >> reporter: oh, too cool, this

is like walking on the moon, right? >> yes. >> reporter: so like this, right? when you're simulating one-sixth gravity, walking isn't as easy as it looks. it's hard to really have much control. i guess that's what happens when gravity goes away. eventually, i got my lunar bearings. the weightless thing is kind of cool. my fellow campers taking their outer orbit experiences very seriously. it's not easy to be in space, clearly. not an easy mission you're on here. >> i know. i can't imagine what the astronauts have to do in space. >> i just love space. i love learning about space. i love really everything about space. and i love to come with my friends. >> reporter: i want to let you in on a little secret. when i was a kid, i actually didn't grow up to want to be a journalist. in the beginning, i wanted to be an astronaut. so 20 years ago, i came right

here to space camp in huntsville, alabama, and this is too cool to be able to put on a flight suit and 20 years later, go back in space. here we go. time for the big test, commanding a space shuttle mission. >> open up your checklist. >> reporter: so this is what like the crew on "atlantis," they'll be sitting just like this, checking off things what -- >> yes, that's what all the velcro here is for, to put their checklist down. >> reporter: after we run through our tests, we wait for the go from capcom. >> you can sit back and relax and get ready for lunch. >> reporter: countdown to liftoff and then the change in scenery. >> oh, look at the stars. so you get into space pretty quickly? >> yes. >> how fast are we going can? >> we're going up to 4gs.

>> 4gs. >> reporter: once we're in space, it's time to suit up for a space walk. here we go! going into space. so explain to me what i'm going to be doing. >> you are going to be using our arm to go up and repair the satellite. there's a damaged antenna that you guys need to replace. >> reporter: strapped in, up i go, to fix a satellite. >> you'll reattach it in that exact location. push it in, click. >> got it. >> good job. >> reporter: got it. >> all right. >> all systems look good. >> reporter: mission accomplished. so far, so good for my training day, until the final test. >> you ready, clayton? >> yeah. >> the centrifuge, aaka, the vomit comet, which reaches 3.2 gs. >> how you all doing?

>> good. >> just shy of full throttle, i was done. oh, my gosh. i had to stop. it was too hot. it was too hot and too small. so maybe 20 years later, this cnn anchor doesn't quite have what it takes. >> supercooled hydrogen passes through -- >> nuclear propulsion. he's 12. >> reporter: i think i know someone who does. >> let you in on a little secret, the guys that were filming said she was getting close to being pretty sick. it was that intense there. join brooke, anderson, and john zarrella for our special coverage of the final space shuttle launch. that is friday beginning at 10:00 a.m. eastern, right hear on cnn.

now, news just into cnn, federal appeals court has just issued a launch right here on cnn. cnn supreme court producer is bill maher -- mears joins us now. >> the administration argued that it's in the process of dismantling don't ask don't tell but it needs more time to implement this major personnel program, so they had argued for more time and essentially these appeals going on in the courts be suspended while it continues too dismantle it. but the ninth circuit court of appeals issued an order saying the government cannot enforce don't ask don't tell until these appeals are fully implemented or until the policy is completely dismantled. >> all right, bill mears, thank

you very much. so what's your facebook status today? if you're mark zuckerberg, it is awesome. next up, the big announce. that will change how you use facebook.

>> facebook founder mark

zuckerberg teased something new coming to facebook. that announced their latest app. skype, that's right, skype on facebook. here's zuckerberg at today's unveiling. >> with traditional skype, most people have to have down loaded skype beforehand. we think this is awesome, because we're using the best technology out there for doing video chat with the best social infrastructure out there in order to create some really cool new scenarios. turns out that dude i walked by will actually get to video chat with his grandson, so that's cool. >> katie, you know, i can skype, i've got a facebook. if i can do it, it doesn't seem so awesome. what does he think is so awesome about it. >> a lot of people hitting the like button on this one. 750 million facebook users are now able to have video chat capabilities. it's super simple. you can now have that one-on-one video chat experience. i'm not overly surprised on this

news. rumors very circulating for about a year, but the announcement was made at a perfect timing, especially on the heels of google plus. if you go to your facebook page, this will be rolling out over the next week, a select number of users will have it for the next few dpaps it will actually be embedded in your chat, and there will be a call button on every user's page. you just hit that button. if you have a web cam and they have a web cam, video chat will be enabled. if they don't have a web cam, you can still hear them and if they're not there, you can leave them a message recorded when they sign on facebook. >> so it's just that things we already have are made a little more simple for us? >> i think that's the news here. i don't think anyone can discount the explosion of video chat. skype, as you said is a household word. now if you're very techie, we

have smart phones with video chat, and smart tvs, we could have a tele presence. but i think the problem here is for somebody that isn't very tech savvy, these video chat capabilities can seem a bit overwhelming. facebook, on the other hand, there's an ewe bikty behind it. we've seen facebook roll out a number of features that are underwhelming over the years. this one i think can make a big hit. >> my son got in trouble and i took away his cell phone and he didn't even miss it because i heard him talking tlouz his laptop. he didn't even miss it. >> lot of people aren't talking about the privacy concerns. this falls back on the user. understand that you have to accept that video call. for parents, though, you should at least know that facebook does now have video chat

capabilities. if your kids are on facebook and the slumber parties are getting late and we don't want them to have an upgrade. do understand how it works and also maybe maybe it's a time to spring clean with humans and realize that we don't have a few hundred friends that we say we do on our facebook pages. >> it makes you feel so good to pretend you're that popular. >> thank you very much. >> thanks. >> coming up at the top of the hour, if you fly, you need to hear about the homeland security department's new warning. would-be terrorists now turning to surgery to smuggle bombs and explosives onboard planes. it sounds farfetched but you know what, it is very real. you need to know it. back in a moment. and while that leaves a little room for balls and tees, it doesn't leave room for much else. there's no room left for deadlines or conference calls. not a single pocket to hold the stress of the day, or the to-do list of tomorrow. only 14 clubs pick up the right one and drive it right down the middle of pure michigan.

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>> announcer: this past year alone there's been a 67% spike in companies embracing the cloud-- big clouds, small ones, public, private, even hybrid. your data and apps must move easily and securely to reach many clouds, not just one. that's why the network that connects, protects, and lets your data move fearlessly through the clouds means more than ever. terroristing could be targeting plane using secret hidden explosives and those bombs could be inside their bodies. i'm edie hill, the news starts

now. murder in the courtroom. a gay teenager, shot to death, execution style at his desk. the accused shooter, his classmate. >> the real issue is why did he do it? now his trial begins. the gloves are off in the fight over whether to raise america's credit card limit. . >> that's, in fact, what drives them nuts about washington. >> but as the clock ticks, one senator is so fed up, he's making a big threat. republican rand paul joins me live. plus -- >> atlantis begins. >> -- the countdown is on, but the shuttle's final launch may be in jeopardy. and a monster dust cloud wreaks havoc in a major american city. we'll take you inside. >> welcome. i'm edie hill. >> we start this hur with a disturbing new warning on

potential terror attacks. what is this new threat against us? >> renewed interest among terrorists in a very chilling tackic. surgically implanting explosives or bomb components in the body of attackers. this could be used to strike commercial aircraft possibly in individual assassination attempts. the official we spoke to says there's fresh intelligence, but no specific or imminent threat. one u.s. official says a man suspected of involvement is a bomb-making mastermind of al qaeda in the arabian peninsula, possibly the most dangerous arm of al qaeda. he is suspected of involvement in the chris day 2009 plot where a terrorist tried to detonate a bomb in his underwear. he's also thought to be behind the cargo bomb plot that was foiled last year.

>> are we familiar with thin anyone who has carried this off? >> there's precedent for this kind of thing. this same bomb maker in al qaeda in the arabian peninsula is thought to be behind a 2009 plot to kill saudi arabia's interior minister. in that plot, a bomber got very close to that minister, and it's thought the bomber had a bomb either in a body cavity or in his underwear. that bomb did go off prematurely. the bomber was killed. the interior minister escaped, but it was a very close call, and that kind of sent a chilling warning to security officials all over the world that this kind of thing may be coming. >> but the first reaction i have is well, you go through those body scanners. certainly they'll pick it up, don't think? >> well, most expert says they do not pick up anything internal, implanted in the body. they cannot pick up something that may be in the abdomen or some place like that. they can sometimes pick up something that's in a

prosthetic, possibly something that may be in a breast implant or something like that, something that projects some kind of a contour in the body. but if it's inside the body, most experts are telling us that these full body imaging scanners cannot pick up that kind of thing. >> well, you know, i'm familiar with drug mules, you talked about people using body cavities. that's been going on for a long time. a lot of people have died from that, in fact. with when bags of drugs overwhelm up open up inside their body. what about somebody being able to implant a significant explosive advice in their body somewhere and live? >> that's right. and this surgeon says it depends on the sophistication of the operation and the device itself. if it's mid range sophistication in the surgery or the device itself, that could lead to problems. the bomber could die before the plot ever comes to fruition. maybe within about three or four days of the implant.

but the surgeon also says if they are sophisticated enough, if they get it done in a hospital, if the device has some kind of casing around it, it could last days, weeks, even longer. so it really depends on the type of surgery, the sophistication of that, and the sophistication of the device itself. >> all right, thank you very much, brian todd. what next? now, if it is interesting, it is happening right now. you're going to see it right now. an indictment unsealed has counterterrorism officials concerned. the indictment charges a somali man with providing interior support to the extremist group in the arabian peninsula. the man was captured by u.s. forces april 19, interrogated overseas for, quote, intelligent purposes for two months. he is now in fbi custody in the u.s.

the thasan's government-appointed attorney urges the military against allowing the death penalty saying the trial would be more time consuming and expensive. south korea, abuzz with excitement today. folks cheering, as you can see as the announcement, just a couple of hours ago. the city beat out munich and others for a chance to beat host. it narrowly lost its bids for the 2010 and 2014 winter games. now watch this -- >> what is going on there? look at that. a fight erupting in afghanistan's parliament. first, you saw the shoe go

flying. then the water bottle goes flying. then punches are thrown. and that's between two female lawmakers before the colleagues finally pulled them apart. now, this followed a discussion about alleged rocket attacks in pakistan. that's something pakistan denies. in montana, the governor declaring a state of emergency in seven counties because of a ruptured pipeline that caused 42,000 gallons of oil to gush into the river last week. governor disagree about how widespread the oil is. the state says it has found oil 90 miles from the leak. now to ohio where a freight train traveling from cleveland to cincinnati leaked more than 1,700 gallons of diesel from its engine before anyone even realized it, crews are scrambling to clean up the mess. they say about 30 of those gallons spiel spiled in s spill when the train stopped on a

bridge in downtown columbus. and the dow finishing in the green, up 56 points. let's go to allison kosik live at the stock exchange. i know we're going to get several jobs reports this week. what should we be looking for as we see these numbers come out today? that's kind of the game on wall street. the bar right now really low in may. as this week goes, we're going to see three jobs reports come out over the next two days. adp is going to begin the show tomorrow morning to report -- that's the report on private sector hiring. and then right after that is going to come the report on additional jobless claims. then, of course, the biggie on friday, the government job reports for june. they're anticipating good numbers. economists, they're being a

little more cautious. edie? >> are they starting to be more realistic with their expectations? >> cnn money surveyed top economist. it sound really realistic to me. they see the economy growing under 3% this year. that's worse than last year. as far as unemployment goes, they see it falling to 8.7% by the end of the year. that's not much of a decline. that realism is really seeping in at this point. >> all right, thank you very much. >> switching gears, it seems some hotels and resorts are offering a big discount, but it involves a digital detox. what is that? how does that work? we'll tell you. alison thank you very much. as americans worry about their jobs, even their 401(k)s,

even putting food on the table, on capitol hill, gloves are off. congress and the president arguing on whether to raise the debt ceiling. there's no signs a deal is close. and as the clock tick, one senator is so fed up with the process, he is making a very serious threat. republican senator rand paul joins me live next. don't miss it. right now, go to priceline for a sneak peek at recent winning and better than ever! hotel bids to find where you n save up to 60% on hotels. * we'll even email you other people's winning bids, so you'll know what price to name. *á with new hotel bid alerts, from priceline.

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>> the clock is ticking down 20 d-day. president obama arn warning the u.s. will not be able to keep playing its debt obligations at that point. he's invited the house and senate leaders to the white

house. there was still a lot of grand standing on the floor of the senate this morning. listen to this. >> are we the kind of country that gives tax breaks to the richest and corporate america while the poor are suffering? >> we don't think it's max mallist to propose hundreds of billions of dollars of tax hikes in the middle of a job crisis. we have a better term for it -- common sense. let's get senator rand paul in here. he's a republican from kentucky, so frustrated with the way things are going, he's threatening to filibuster. thanks for being with us. >> good to be with you, e.d. >> would you filibuster? >> actually, we already are. we have been filibustering since

last friday. sometimes you don't know it because it's not like jimmy stewart where we're always talking and monopolizing the story. they threatened to go and planned on talking about libya. we said we wouldn't. so yesterday they scheduled a vote to force it to go to libya and away from the debt ceiling and we got enough votes y ed to win a victory and they canceled the vote. now we want them to talk about the debt ceiling. so tomorrow we'll be releasing our solution for the debt ceiling. we, some of the most conservative members of the senate and house will raise the debt ceiling contingent on three items -- we want significant cuts, statutory caps like pay as you go and we also want a balanced amendment. if we get these, we'll agree to raise the debt ceiling. >> okay, i know that both sides are pretty far apart. there's just a basic disagreement on how you fix the problems of the country, how do you stimulate the economy. how do you do things, which

comes first? would you accept piecemeal? if you had, say, the be the comes out and says, i will -- i'll agree to a balanced budget amendment if you get rid of in first and then let's sit down and talk about it? >> well, i think the message of the election last time was that the american people are tired of politics as usual up here. 14% of the american people think that congress is doing a good job. and it's because 75% of the people want a balanced budget amendment, and yet we won't act on it. so i think this is a time to draw a line in the sand and say look, you aren't trusted to be spending our money wisely, so we shouldn't give you anymore. and that's why we should draw a line in the sand and say look, the only way we'll ever fix our fiscal problems is by having a balanced budget amendment. but do think there is one room for compromise. the democrats say oh, the rich have to share more of the burden in fixing the debt. well, one way to allow the rich to share more of the burden is to have them pay more or pay the full coast of their medicare benefits and have them receive less in their social security.

so if you want the rich to pay more of the burden or share more of the burden, that's a compromise republicans could live with. but if you just want to raise taxes by taking away business dediction ductions, look at where all businesses, anybody that saved any money owns a part of a corporation, we own all parts of oil companies. they're not some obscure rich person we don't know. it's us. so just to raise taxes on business isn't a good idea. but if they want the rich to share more of the burden, let's means test the entitlement programs. >> when you say, this is something we can agree on, are the leaders -- is the entire senate, is the house in agreement? because i get the sense that there are groups of people that are sort of going out there and they're saying well, i'll do it if you do this and another group says i'll do it if you do that. is everyone together on this? >> well, we're going to find out. i think we may get the entire republican caucus behind the idea that we should have cuts, caps, and a balanced budget amendment. we already have 47 republicans behind a balanced budget

amendment. we have 75% of the american people. several of us have been talking to house members, and we're trying to talk to leadership in the house as well. so i think we have a chance. but i think the new people here are closest to the electorate. we just all finished an election, and i feel like the american people were tired of what they've been getting. they want something new and they want somebody who will actually fantastic the problems up here. >> well, i get the sense that especially in the house, a lot of the freshmen r saying, we were sent in here to not be like the regular politicians in washington. and they really are willing to go rogue on this. if you were to -- if you were to cap this thing, handicap it, what do you think is going to happen? are we going to get to august 2 and still be talking? >> i hope we are. i think the pressure counts as we get closer to the date, but those of us who believe that government shouldn't spend what it doesn't have, and shouldn't spend money that we borrow from china, we need to hold firm.

the other thing we need to tell the american people is there's no reason to ever default. we bring in $200 billion a month in revenue. our interest payment is $20 billion. the president should take that off the table and tell the american people that he won't default. if we default, it's because the president is not doing his job. the president has the revenue and the money to pay interest on the debt. we might have a partial shutdown of government, but he has enough money to pay interest, social security, soldier salaries. there's plenty of money for about 70% of government. but we have to decide why 30% of government, we don't have enough money for. that's the imbalance. and we have to do something about it. >> rand paul, thank you for joining us. >> thank you. >> weeks ago, he was one of america's most wanted fugitives. now the alleged mob boss whitey bulger is telling the court what he thinks of the allegations that he killed 19 people. we'll take you live to boston. plus, a gay student is shot to

death execution style in his classroom. the accused person, his own classmate. and he is now on trial. and something else he allegedly did may, in fact, blow this case wide open. that's next.

>> a gay teenager shot to death execution style inside his own classroom. well, now a trial is beginning for the classmate accused of pulling the trigger. brandon mcinerney was 14 when he shot and killed his classmate. he pulled a handgun from his backpack and shot king twice point blank in the head.

days after the murder, students spoke about what king went through on a daily basis. >> they just mocked him. and every time he came around, they ran and just painful things, they said painful things about him. >> defense lawyers are not denying mcinerney shot the victim, but are questioning the alleged motive. >> it's not in dispute. the real issue is why did he do it? and that's what the evidence is going to be presented and it's up to the jury to decide. >> he's accused of planning the murder and he is being tried as an adult. if convicted, he could face a sentence of 53 years to life in prison. after a decade and a half on the run, accused boston gang boss james whitey bulger is back in court being arraigned for his alleged role in 19 murders. he goes to court and says not guilty to any of the charges.

she was the inspiration for the character portrayed by jack nicholson in the movie "the departed." >> when i was your age, they said we could become cops or criminals. what i'm saying is this, when you're facing a loaded gun xz what's the difference? >> let's go now to cnn's deborah feyerick. what was he like in court? >> it's so interesting. when you see the portrayal of jack nicholson doing whitey bulger, some sajak nicholson didn't play him hard enough, didn't capture the stone cold killer essence that whitey bulger was known for during his reign in boston. but in court, a very different person. he was subdued. his feet and his hands were shackled. he spotted two of his brothers

in the front row and the men nodded at each other. think about it, at age 81, his family is all he has left. but he did enter a not guilty plea to all 32 charges against him, including 1 counts of murder. the rest is so monumental in boston because it invokes such a painful part of boston's history. so for many, seeing him in court, there's really a sense of history, at least closing. so it's really interesting, e.d. >> i worked in boston. and people would talk about james whitey july ber. he was legendary. and they talked about just this reign of terror. he was ruthless, he was cut throat, and then i look at this old man who is brought in and enters the court and it's hard to put those two things together. he paints a different picture of himself at this point. do you think he's going to cut a

deal? >> he's charged wf very serious counts. all of them require a life in prison sentence, or the most serious ones. a lot of people have already testified. people alleged, you know, these so-called rats who used to work for whitey bulger who have now turned against him and been used in various court cases that did come to trial, including his close associate steve phlegming. he's not a very large man. probably about 5'9", 5'10". he ruled this city with an iron fist. he ruled through fear, physical threats and he did it because he was working as an fbi informant. and corrupt agents allows him to not run his criminal enterprise but grow his criminal enterprise. that's part of fabric and history of boston that a lot of people have not been able to let go. now after 16 years on the run, it's really important to him.

now the feds know the extent of who is involved. >> were they ever able to figure that out? i understand it's believed that one of the handlers for the fbi is the person who tipped him off and that's why he went on the lam. >> and that's exactly right. one of handlers tipped him off. and one of handlers got so spooked by the whole thing because whitey bulger was getting so powerful, he's act uh which willy the one who went to a couple of boston reports saying whitey bulger is an informant. the thinking was if the journalists got it out then maybe the understood world would go after whitey bulger, but nobody believed that he would go

after his own people. look at that! it's a monster wall of dust hammering a major city. winds nearly 70 miles an hour. wait till you see more video from inside. we'll show that to you. plus he's already a front-runner, but mitt romney may be pulling ahead of his opponents in a 2012 race in another way. we'll tell you why he's smiling today. that's next.

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>> time now for a cnn politics update. we have the latest news from the political ticker. mitt romney pulling in impressive campaign money. tell us about that. >> that's right. you know, e.d., he is. he is over in london right now of all places. he's across the pond, not just responding to calls of hello governor. he's also doing some fundraising over there, meeting with ex-pats where you can raise a lot of money running for president. he raised somewhere in the neighborhood of $18.25 million in the second quarter of 2011. that was way out in front of all the other gop rivals. not only doing well in the polls but the fundraising as well. another clear sign he's being taken seriously in the race, the president's top political advis adviser, david plouff, he was over at a breakfast, a bloomberg

news breakfast this morning. and at that event, mr. plouff referred to governor romney as a world class political contortionist, referring to some of the governor's -- you know, he has a hand of changing some of his positions on certain issues. he has made conflicting statements when it comes to the economy recently. and the democrats have had some fun with that. in response, the romney campaign sent out a message saying they would debate president obama anytime, anywhere. but as you know, governor romney will have to win the nomination first to do that. >> minor step beforehand. >> children could be at a higher risk for autism if their parents have certain traits. i'll tell you what those traits are. plus, as the countdown continues, the shuttle's final launch could be in jeopardy. and a major city in chaos after a monster dust storm. we will take you inside the

cloud. "reporter roulette" is next. we're the wassman family from skagway, alaska. livin' so far out and not havin' a bank within 90 miles... i was runnin' into dead ends. happened to come across quicken loans online. [ chris ] walked over to the computer... i was able to see all the paperwork. while i was on the phone, i was able to go through the checklist. [ kathy ] they were quick and efficient. quicken loans is definitely engineered to amaze. they were just really there for us.

a possible hitch to the launch of nasa's final shuttle mission. new clues to the causes of autism and a giant dust storm plows through arizona. it's time to play reporter roulette. we begin with john zarrella at the kennedy space center.

>> edie, i think nasa would like to launch today. they have a brief thinging a li while ago. they said the shut sl in perfect shape and ready to go. there are no issues that the nasa engineering team is working. the only issue being worked here is unfortunately the weather. and as the weather officials cut it, it's not looking good for friday morning. >> as we get to launch, we have a 70% chance. due to our launch criteria, violation potential for the cumulus cloud rule and presip rule. >> if they can't get off the ground on friday, nasa does have the option of going over, probably not both days but one

of those two days, everything is in place. they're just going to need to find just a couple of hours of good weather in order to get atlantis off the ground for the 135th and final space shuttle mission. e.d.? >> window that they need. john zarrella, thank you very much. next up, senior medical correspondent elizabeth cohen joins me. two new studies offering insight into the mystery of autism. and first up, one study shows that genes playless of a role than other factors? >> that's right. doctors thought maybe genes are a really good reason why people get autism. genes do get play a role, but maybe not as much as we think. for example, the age that a parent -- that parents are when their child is born, whether it be mother or father, that seems to play a role. the weight of the child at birth. even air pollution, whatever kind of air pollution that might

be out there, that may be a role. so lots of things researchers may need to investigate. >> so weight, the bigger the baby, the greater the risk? >> i think that's not career. -- clear. this is really in the infancy stages that they're trying to figure out here. >> what about the link between mothers on anti-depressants. >> that's another study that came out. i'm going to talk about that one very carefully because i don't want mothers to freak out here. this is a study that showed that women who are taking anti-depressants while they're pregnant had an increased chance of having a child with autism, but it is very small study. it's like barely 300 kids, so that means maybe the findings aren't all that significant. and also, it's -- it's -- the numbers are so small, the kids who had autism, the vast majority of kids born to these moms were fine, but some did have autism. so mothers shouldn't freak out.

if you're taking an anti-depress sanity, talk to your doctor because a lot of women really need these drugs. >> is there anything that a parent can do that they've determined that can minimize the risk of their child developing autism? >> right. all you can do at this point is look for the red flags. and then when you see a red flag, go to your pediatrician, catching it early really, really helps. as your baby ages. when they get to the point where they respond to their name. if they don't, that's a problem. if they're having difficulty forming conversations, babbling with you. if they do repettive movements, that's a reason to go to the pediatrici pediatrician. if you go to cnn.com, you can see more red flags. that's all parents can do at this point. next up, a giant dust storm swallows a major u.s. city. chad myers joins us now. >> what happens last night over phoenix, arizona, was a couple of thunderstorms combining east

of the city and rolling right through. when that happened, wind blew out of the thunderstorms, almost 60 miles an hour. look at the video. here comes a giant -- it looks like it's going to come over and eat the city. you think this is something in saudi arabia because they do have these in the middle east. they're called haboob. this engulfed phoenix, tempe, mesa, right through scottsdale, and the wind blew for about 25 minutes. it stopped flights obviously in and out of sky harbor for an hour. and then people started driving through it as it got in. if you're driving through this. you know have an air filter that's full of dust that needs absolutely to be changed today or you are wasting gas at $4 a gallon. some crazy video. here's one now, a time lapsed video from mike here. watch this come in. he time lapsed it for us.

look at the dust. it looks like something out of hollywood. but it's real. >> it really does. it is hard to imagine that thing just came up and moved in like that. >> the pools are all murky. people had to breathe this. now it's in your house. they're trying to get the dust out. >> good luck with the clean on that one. let me ask you about the earthquake earlier today. what's the update on that? >> it was a 7.6. they finally narrowed it down. it was about 20 or so kilometers deep, 12 miles, and it was not enough to make a big tsunami. it did make a small one, about three foot wait near tonga and the area right where the earthquake was, but now all earthquake and all tsunami warnings and everything else across the pacific rf canceled. >> thank goodness. that is today's "reporter roulette." the president went a different route today. a digital route.

joe johns has more on obama's town hall tweet-up including the big surprise he got. that's next.

>> most but not all of the questions of the president's twitter's town hall were pretty much softballs. in fact, some political opponents got in a few shots.

here's joe johns with today's "political pop." >> twitter town hall. that's a tweet-up, right? >> a tweet-up. >> who knew? all right, look, if you were watching the president's twitter town hall, so were congressional republicans. they were having a field day with it, of course. they're kbeting their message out while the president was having his message out. among them, house speaker john boehner, tweeting about the deficit negotiations, check this out. >> our next question comes from someone you may know. this is speaker boehner. >> oh, there you go. >> after embarking on a record spending binge that left us deeper in debt, where are the job, question mark. and i want to know that these characters are his fault. >> first of all, he needs to work on his typing skills.

well, look, obviously john is the speaker of the house, he's a republican and so, this is a slightly skewed question. >> skewed question. all right, that wasn't the only member of the house leadership to tweet. mccarthy went after the administration's economic poll spips he tweeted gop has a plan for job growth, what is your economic plan, apparently talking to the president. 798 days, still no budget from the dems. and house budget committee chairman paul ryan put up several tweets, even challenged the president, saying americans deserve a real debate, you pick when and where. so that sounded sort of like calling him out. republicans getting all excited. i think they were sort of egged on by john boehner a little bit. >> i think americans deserve

some real specifics. and on both sides, you get -- they want to do this but they don't tell you how to get all that done. we have to wait for that. >> obviously the white house is looking at this like it's a big election and we're going to have issues with social media so we're going to get onboard quickly. the vice president did open a twitter account, an official twitter account. the white house announced on july 4 he opened this. and as of just very recently, i'm told, he had three tweets. three whole tweets and the last one was a picture of him with somebody. he had 18,500 followers, though. but wasn't following anybody. not even president obama. the first tweet was asking americans to thank the troops and their families for the service on independence day.

then there was another one saying meeting with the president and congressional leaders at the white house tomorrow. the white house blog does say he -- this is going to give sort of a behind the scenes look at veep life, that's their word. so i'm really looking forward to finding out what biden says about veep life. >> if he wants to follow someone and not have a whole lot of excitement, he can follow me. dirty little secret here, though, that i think people should know. the vice president, the president, the politicians, they rarely if ever write their own tweets. >> yeah, it's always staff. it's always staff. and this will probably be no exception. actually, somebody over in the vice president's office said that to me yesterday. >> coming up, perhaps the fastest and luckiest squirrel in the world. we'll show you what happens when a lamb boar gainar -- lamborghi

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>> you need to know about this. there's a disturbing new warning on potential terror attacks. a security official tells cnn terrorists intent on bombing planes are interested in surgically implanting explosives

into their bodies. last week, u.s. officials briefed airlines and allies overseas on new intelligence on terror threats and about that new technique that they might soon use. in new york city, an attorney for dominique strauss kahn said he had, quote, a constructive meeting today. the meeting comes days after prosecutors revealed several credibility issuesed with the female accuser. but her attorney said prosecutors are not red doi drop the charges. a u.s. army general, approving a possible death penalty in the trial of major nadal hasan. he's accused of going on a shooting rampage in ft. hood, texas, in 2009. his government-appointed defense attorney urging the military against allowing the death penalty, saying it would make for a longer and more expensive trial. speaking of trials, jury selection for the roger clemens perjury trial is under way.

the former baseball star is accused of lying to congress in 2008 when he denied using performance-enhancing drugs. the presiding judge in the case has chastised congress for refusing to turning over audio recordings of the 2008 deposition. the house counsel says they can only be released by a resolution of the house of representatives. you've got to see this. if a lamborghini leaves point a and a plucky squirrel leaves point b going 5 miles an hour, does the squirrel survive? let's look. look at that. that is one lucky squirrel. you know when you're driving and you see a chip monk run out and you know you can't slow down and still be safe but you're always

looking in your rear-view mirror hoping the chip monk made it across the road. well, fwh this case, the girl did. lucky squirrel. a lot of folks love fireworks on fourth of july. that is until they fail to launch and aim at you. >> do you think they'll go to a fireworks show next year? i'm not sure about that. that is the forty of july hihir hihir hireworks. they go away, i guess. the one that got away. >> this time tomorrow, casey anthony could be a free woman. so what kind of life will she be able to have? also did you hear, she was served with legal papers last night in prison. sunny hostin is on the case next. [ bird chirping ]

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>> now tomorrow's news today. let's fast forward. our borders are taking center stage when the obama administration announces its new plan to tackle drug violence and trafficking into the u.s. also a coupl of republican presidential candidates hitting a key election state. rick santorum heads to iowa and tim pawlenty holds a town hall. casey anthony found casey anthony i guilty of lying to law enforcement. so casey is due back in court

for sentencing on the lying convictions. what do you expect? >> well, we'll know tomorrow by 9:00 a.m. what the prosecution thinks this sentence could be or should be. we'll also hear from the defense. and the defense will make their recommendation to the judge as to what the sentence should be. of course, it's up to the judge to determine how much time she gets. she was convicted of four counts of lying to law enforcement. and so she's got an exposure of about four years and about $4,000 in fines because e.d., each misdemeanor conviction can punishment by up to one year in prison. so if this judge sde sides he wants to sentence her consecutively, that means one after the other after the other after the other, she could be sentenced to up to four years in prison. >> but i understand that's pretty rare, that normally, you know, they don't do that. and most folks are assuming she gets out with the time she's already served. >> you know, i'm going to

disagree with most folks. you're right. a lot of people are saying that, but remember, this is the same judge that sentenced a guy who flipped the bird at jeff ashton in the courtroom to six days in jail. this is not one of these no nonsense judges. this is also the judge that presided over this case, and what i've heard is when he heard about the verdict, he sort of slammed down the paper. so this may be a judge that holds her feet to the fire and says i'm going to hold you to the four years. and so i think while a lot of people are saying she's going to be walking oit at free woman tomorrow, i'm not certain that that is the case. >> so he might get his say. >> also, i understand quasi was served with legal papers in jail last night. it's a defamation case. what is that about? >> isn't that interesting? she was served in jail, subpoenaed for a videotaped deposition. this is a case that was filed against to her by zanny, the alleged nanny.

remember, casey anthony said that someone by the name of zenaida fernandez gonzalez had taken caylee, and that's who sort of kidnapped her and had her. this woman is saying her life was ruined and casey anthony is to blame. we do have a statement from her attorney, and her attorney says since the false allegations that she was responsible for caylee's disappearance surfaced, gonzalez has had to live in hiding. her life has been turned upside down. she suffered emotionally and physically due to the threatening phone calls made to her house in the middle of the night. and the stress of this devastating situation. in fact, she's also claiming that she was fired from her job as a result of all the negative media attention. and she's a mother of six. this defamation suit seeks to clear her name and rectify the damage done to her by the devastating false accusations of casey anthony. this is a civil case. it's a much lore standard than a criminal case. it only needs to be shown by

aed. to the evidence, e.d. just a mere tipping of the scales and she's suing for money. >> do we know what kind of money? >> we don't know. i don't have the papers in front of me. casey anthony, when she does get out, may get a book deal, maybe a tv deal. may be looking at getting quite a bit of money. she's not judgment proof like a lot of people thought. she they be able to pay some sort of restitution. . >> what's up with caylee's law? >> 98,000 have signed on to a campaign calling for a federal law to be established that if a parent doesn't alert police of a child's disappearance, that parent would be guilty of a felony. th